Using a chicken as my first poultry run in preparation for doing a smoked turkey for thanksgiving. Dissolved some rub into butter and used the injector to put it all over under the skin (not IN the meat mind you). Then just put some dry rub on the skin and stuffed some thyme and lemons I had around into the butt. Only other seasoning was lump charcoal and two chunks of hickory added as I put the bird on.

~360 until the IT reached 167, the juiciest chicken I have ever had. Suspiciously juicy. Like when I picked it up a few tablespoons of liquid came out of the cavity. I rested it but still when I cut it board was covered in juices (that puddle you see there was still just coming from the cavity)so I was worried I didn't rest long enough but then even the breast meat was still really wet internally. Like underdone wet inside but the meat consistency was fine, it tempted out with the thermapen and the white meat was white. Good, just far different from any chicken I have ever had before. And its not a frankenbird, Springer Mountain all natural shit

So much flavor was imparted to the skin I gnawed on the wings like a dog. I makes me think I am going to get a big mess of them and do some smoked wings when I get back from Playa.

Oh and that pork shoulder from earlier. I had some left over I froze. I thawed it out. Then got a potato, rubbed the skin in bacon fat, heavily sea salted and roasted in the grill until 200-210, then loaded up and put the pulled pork on top in place of bacon bits.

Pizza is still the fav. The classic is my usual along with the one using cured meats but this pesto, goat cheese and sun dried tomatoes is a nice change of pace.

Its really good and the great thing is you can keep dried tomatoes for a long time (just hydrate them) and make the pesto ahead of time and freeze (or buy pesto I guess) so you can actually make this a quick weeknight meal. At 750 degrees the pizza cooks in like 1.5-2 minutes.

Only thing I changed is I punched down the dough better to halve the size of the bubbles (I like them because it gets more burnt and crispy below them but those were big enough to push toppings around).

After struggling with the rain I decided to drop $47 on a stainless topper for my grill. Replaces the previous stainless topper that had to old fashioned flapper and daisy wheel setup. Its from smokeware and I think they make them for all of the major kamados.

Hey guys just wanted to follow up regarding this smoker. I was talking to a buddy (with an egg) and he was bitching about removing ash so I checked to see if we could retrofit the ash drawer (its kind of a funnel/tray that channels all of the ash into a drawer that acts like a scoop, no scraping with an "ash tool" and we were talking about lids since i got that smokeware one.

If you are looking at an Egg SERIOUSLY give Kamado Joe a look. They just changed a few things about their smoker that really improve it. The biggest for use is they are switching to a rainshieled, indexed "twist" style top vent. Its an improvement to the smokeware one I bought and I will be ordering it to replace the regular one:

The other thing they did is develop some sort of counterbalanced hinge thing that basically allows you to open the lid to any angle and it stays there. Its an option and I am not sure if I am going to retrofit it or not. Kind of expensive. Bit it would be awesome for cooking pizzas because I just need a few inches to get in there and turn it, etc.

The second upgrade. This is their gen 2 firebox. Since everyone (including BGE) has issues with cracking under high heat they went to an interlocking firebox using fire tile.

This was free. I am probably going to buy their new topper once they get extra stock in. I like my smokeware one but it cant get above 550 so I have to switch toppers for super high heat. The Kamado Joe one does full temps.

They arent sure if youll be able to retrofit that hinge yet, at least not for the regular ones. I kind of want it for doing pizzas (only opening a bit to get the pizza in, holding as much heat in).

FYI if youre interested in these things check your costco for a Kamado Joe Roadshow. They have people in doing demos and everything is like 20% off. I bought a shit-ton of their high end charcoal at one. Grills its a way to save a couple hundred on a brand new one.

Got it. Really well made and simple, which is what I wanted. They have ones with charts and shit but I just wanted it to regulate the temp. This one is battery powered but people say if you get the grill up to temp first it will last 40+ on a set of batteries.

That works fine for me because I wont be using it 24/7. I really just want to slap it on to go run errands and the, rare, overnight cook. My first real test with it will be in two weeks. Going to do 3 pork butts for a friends birthday party but want to do my regular Saturday errands.